


neat and tidy

by medicinal



Category: Little Nightmares (Video Game)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, Little Nightmares II Spoilers, Protectiveness, but it's 4+1 because there's 5 chapters lol, mono my sweet boy, no beta but i am my own beta
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-19 01:48:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29743128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/medicinal/pseuds/medicinal
Summary: “Are you.. washing your hands?” she said. “Why?”Once he’d deemed them thoroughly washed, he stood up and shook them off, padding back over to her. “I like to be clean.”-Mono's loop continues. Some things change. Somethings don't.(or; the four times mono cleaned himself and the one time he didn't)
Relationships: Mono & Six (Little Nightmares), Mono & The Thin Man (Little Nightmares)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 271





	1. Teeth and Leaves

**Author's Note:**

> every fandom needs a 5+1 things, it is simply law.
> 
> based on my personal headcanon, that mono likes to be clean. i just think he's neat (literally and the fact he is a good good boy. deserved better......) and for a game with little to no dialogue, their characters really shine through and i wanna (somewhat?) flesh that out.

“Gross,” Mono whined quietly from behind the log, the thick sludge of the bog oozing even deeper into his clothes.

“Shh,” Six whispered. “It’ll hear you.” 

Sure enough, the sound of heavy boots thumped just a couple meters away from them, the bright light of a lantern glided across the swampy water . Amongst the Hunter’s general loud, asthmatic breaths, it let out concentrated grunt, moving it’s lantern back and forth, as if that’d summon them out of their hiding place. 

Once the lantern’s movement became less erratic, Six began to traverse forwards through the nasty water and towards the end of the log. When she heard no indication that Mono was following behind her, she turned around to find him stubbornly standing in the same place they’d just been. 

“Oi,” she hissed. “Come on.” 

“But it’s dirty,” he complained. 

Really,” she scowled. “You’re doing this now?” 

He huffed childishly. “I don’t like it.” 

“Die then,” Six growled, inhaling deeply before submerging herself under the water. When her fingers touched the bank, she came back up, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the foul smell, whipping her head around when she heard a muted spluttering from behind her. Mono clumsily waded through the water, heaving himself onto the bank before he went to shake himself off like a wet dog, spraying dirty water and chunks of gunk everywhere (and onto her no less). 

“You’re disgusting,” she crossed her arms, unimpressed. 

“Let’s just go,” he offered her a hand, which she batted aside, pulling herself onto the muddy grass and shoving past him, climbing swiftly and skillfully up the makeshift ladder, past the riverbank and up into a crouch when the sharp glow of the Hunter’s lantern illuminated the path she was hoping to take. 

“Please never make me do something like that again,” Mono grumbled from behind her, wiping his dirty coat down with dirtier hands. 

“I didn’t make you do anything!” Six whispered, throwing up her hands irritably. “ _ You’re  _ the one following me!” 

“Because you needed help,” he tilted his head from under his bag.

“I don’t need anybody’s help,” she spat. “Let alone yours.”

Mono went to scratch his chin in contemplation, only to be met with his paper bag. “Well… you needed my help getting into the attic. And getting the key! And we couldn’t have gotten outside without both of us pushing that little door. So you _ did _ need my help!” Six gave him a slow, unimpressed blink and then turned to lift herself off of the angular hillside, Mono not far behind her. 

“I didn’t need your help,” she muttered, more to herself than the boy behind her, but that didn’t stop him from hearing her. 

“You did.”

“I. Did.  _ Not." _

“You did!” she could hear the smug grin in his voice. “Come on, admit it-”

Abruptly, the sound of birds taking off in a hurry, their big black wings beating loudly drew the Hunter’s attention to where they were crouched. Where Mono froze up, Six immediately rose to her feet, darting away from the Hunter’s line of sight and behind a bulky wooden crate. She clamped her hands over her ears before the Hunter’s bullet pierced the wood, squinting an eye open when someone frantically pawed at one of her hands. In her momentary hesitation, Mono managed to grab a hold of her hand and practically drag her to shelter. 

Before she knew it, they were inside a shack. Cornered. Survival instincts took over and she pressed all her body weight against the door and fumbled with the deadbolt till it fell into place. She fell back, revelling in the momentary relief. That relief was short lived though when from the other side of the door there was a loud bang. 

“He’s trying to break through.” Under her thick bangs, her eyes were wide in horror, the world around her blending into blotches of colour mixed together, the loud bang, bang, bang of the Hunter ramming it’s gun into the damp wood of the door, in sync with the beating of her heart which was so loud she could hear it pumping in her ears. They were trapped inside of a small shack with nowhere to run and on the other side, they would be met with a gun-toting taxidermist maniac. She whipped her head around to face Mono in alarm. “Mono, he’s going to break in!”

“Just, hold on,” Mono said through gritted teeth letting out a grunt of frustration before falling to the ground with an oof, but more notably a gun he’d pulled off the wall. Quickly, Six ran to prop up the gun, but her own strength wasn’t enough. As quickly as he could, Mono dragged himself to his feet, offering his remaining strength to aim the gun at the door. In his fuzzy, adrenaline fuelled vision and the holes of his bag, he almost flinched back the moment the Hunter burst through the door, the butt of it’s gun sending splinters of wood flying. 

“Wait for it,” Six’s voice was wobbly, yet she stood confidently, raising the gun parallel to the Hunter’s abdomen. “Not yet.” When the Hunter managed to free it’s gun from the hole it’d busted through the door, Six yelled. “Now!” At the notion, Mono thrust his arm through the trigger guard and down onto the trigger, resulting in a loud bang, and in an instant, the Hunter was on the forest floor giving a loud thud in its wake. 

“... It’s not murder if they’re bad people,” Mono’s voice broke through the buzzing silence. “Is it?”

Six ignored him in flavor of creeping up to the door, peering her head cautiously through the door (which was quite frankly demolished) to survey the carnage outside. “He’s dead,” she confirmed. “Let’s go.”

“Together?” he perked up. 

“You’re…” she furrowed her brow stubbornly, then let out a callous sigh. “Helpful.”

“Okay then!” Six could hear the smile in his voice as he stood up, brushing off his still filthy coat. He skipped over to the crate pushed up against the wall, climbing up onto it and had gotten half way out of the window when he turned to face her. “Let’s go then.” 

The sand was a pleasant change of pace to the forest floor, with it’s tiny rocks and twigs that would scratch at her feet annoyingly till they were red and blistered. The sand was cool and somewhat soft, but what caught her attention was the door that sat conveniently on the shore. That was their way out. But Mono, on the other hand, had his eyes on the sea. He stumbled over thin air in his hurry to the edge of the ocean, crouching down to wet his hands. 

“What’re you doing,” she called over to him. “Come and help me.” 

“Give me a moment,” Mono waved her off, submerging his hands back in the water which was and rubbing them together methodically, scratching off the dirt and grime from his skin and under his fingernails. 

“Are you.. washing your hands?” she said. “Why?”

Once he’d deemed them thoroughly washed, he stood up and shook them off, padding back over to her. “I like to be clean.”

“Well you’re pretty dirty already if you ask me,” Six glowered, successfully pushing the door into the water with Mono’s help. They both slid onto it, crawling further onto the piece of wood. Once he sat down, Mono gave a glance to his clothes. She could tell he was pouting, even with the paper bag masking his face. How it wasn’t completely destroyed by the bog was beyond her. He didn’t respond to her jab with a sentence, just a low hum as he stared out into the fog. After a couple of seconds of silence, she shrugged to herself and drew her legs to the chest. 


	2. Togetherness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Outside the school, the most dangerous thing might not be the rain, but it sure is annoying.

The bin was a surprisingly soft landing as both Mono and Six plummeted out of the open window and into the trash below. The teacher’s throaty shrieks came to a stop as she extended her neck to examine the outside. Her breaths were rough and loud, loud enough for the two of them to hear her sheepishly retreat back into the school, leaving them aching and out of breath, but undeniably _alive_.

Six was the first to haul herself out of the shallow bin and onto the floor, her ankles still sore from where she’d been danged upside down, but it didn’t stop her from making a shaky landing. Mono was more hesitant, peeking his head over the bin’s rim to survey the area before springing out and onto the pavement. 

It was then that Six became acutely aware of the rain.

Cold, wet, torrential rain. 

Her dress, though it was more suited to be considered rags than an actual dress, was getting more and more drenched by the second, and if she’d been cold before then she was quite positively freezing now.

“Hey,” she called over to Mono, who was admiring the droplets of water landing exponentially on his hands. “Can we go.” She didn’t like the idea of just loitering outside the schoolhouse, not with the entirely real possibility of the Teacher peeking back out of the vent and spotting them. She didn’t like the Hunter’s house, not one bit, but the only thing to fear there was the Hunter. In the school, and more specifically, in the porcelain grasps of the Bullies, she felt all too vulnerable. The prospect of spending more time than necessary in the vicinity of that terrible place made her feel close to scared, and being scared was in her top ten of ‘do not do this if you want to survive’.

“Gimme a moment,” Mono waved his hand casually catching more raindrops in his palms. Six tapped her bare foot against the ground impatiently. 

“A moment for what?” she stared intently at him. “What’re you doing?”

“Uh, could you not look?” he asked politely. “Please? Just for a second.” 

“Be quick, I’m cold,” she fussed, the rain water soaking her already wet clothes.

Upon turning her back to him, she heard the crinkling of his paper bag, which had somehow managed to stay on his head throughout the entire ordeal. Not a scrape on it; maybe a bit blemished, but altogether in one piece. But her previous concerns were left on the back burner and her interest piqued when she heard it touch the ground. Up until this point, she wasn’t aware of him taking it off at all in her presence, despite the fact he kept an array of equally odd hats which he could substitute the bag for. In her opinion, the bag was probably the weirdest out of them all, but Mono seemed to be somewhat attached to it. All things considered, it confused her - the idea of Mono not wanting her to see his face was suspicious. A small idea at the back of her head was that in spite of his confidence and straightforwardness, he might just be shy?… It made her stomach feel fluttery in a weird way she didn’t like. The theory that he was just ugly and insecure made her feel a lot better about herself.

Although he’d asked her to not look, she was never one to follow directions. Subtly, she tilted her head enough to catch a glimpse of him. 

His bag was sat neatly on the floor next to where he stood, the back of his head visible. Not his face, Six found herself thinking in disappointment, a feeling which was quickly pushed back into a darker corner of her mind. He had choppy black hair, maybe a dark ash brown if she were to be precise, which he was running hands through in an orderly manner, as if he’d done it before. 

He’s using the rain to wash his hair, she realised. In the spur of the moment, she raised her own hand up to feel her hair. Apart from the fact it was wet with the current downpour, it felt greasy and knotted. Matted together like a stray dog, she scrunched her face up in disgust. Not like she cared. Personal hygiene wasn’t something that mattered right then and there. Survival was more important and keeping clean wasn’t a necessity, even if Mono acted like it was. It was odd watching him rub the water into his hair as if it’d do much other than wash away the dirt and dust that’d accumulate under his makeshift hat, but it’s the thought that counts, she settled on. 

Having seen enough, she turned back around, idly rolling a jagged pebble under her foot while she waited until she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. Mono gave her a thumbs up, bag back on his head before he offered her his hand. Somewhat hesitantly, she took it. She wasn’t ready for the sharp tug he gave her, setting a quick pace she could easily keep up with.

The Pale City was more of a gloomy wasteland than a city. The palest thing about it was the citizens she could spy through windows and slumped in the streets every now and then, their skin a sickly white colour and their attention glued to a static-y screen like some sort of zombie, their faces twisted into something that looked more like a young child’s rendition of a face. A cruel and unnatural and distortion. Six shivered and promptly ignored them, following Mono onto the beam of wood that spanned all the way across the giant crevasse that split the street in two. Mono was walking playfully along it, putting one exaggerated footstep in front of the other as if walking along something so perilous was some kind of game. She couldn’t help but give a sigh of relief when they both safely reached the other side. Far from the school, far from the forest, even farther from the nest. 

She would never admit it to his face, but Mono’s company and occasional chatter was a welcome arrival. While she may have known him for little more than a day, there was something about him that felt familiar, from his carefree attitude to protective tendencies that made her brain tell her he was safe, and by that notion, trustworthy. He’d already proved his reliability and usefulness back when he’d smashed both of her captors heads in and rescued her from their wicked ‘prank’. Loyal to a fault.

It was after the whole affair, she realised, that it truly clicked in her mind that he was a worthy travelling partner. Maybe not a permanent one, but she entertained the idea. Maybe she was allowed to have a nice thing for once.

Mono kept casting looks back to her, the concern radiating off him in waves when her teeth chattered particularly loud and violent shivers racked her body. He tugged at his coat guilitly but pressed on.

“You could borrow my coat if you’d like.”

Her mouth hung slightly ajar for a moment. “Then you’d be cold.”

“But you’re colder,” he countered, unbuttoning the one button he had done up. 

“Don’t,” Six waved her hands nonchalantly. “I’m sure we can find something.” 

“Take one of my hats then,” he rifled through the surprisingly large pockets in his coat, pulling out a yellow rain hat. “Here, c’mon, take it! Please?”

When she didn’t immediately accept his offer, he stubbornly walked right up to her and set the hat firmly on her head. At the sudden contact, Six flinched. “Hey!” she squeaked, stumbling out of his proximity. There was an awkward moment of quiet between them, sans the sound of rain muted against the bright yellow hat now on her head. Eventually, she began to walk again, grabbing his hand (warm, she noticed) and pulled him along, with decidedly less ‘tug’ than him. The action was reciprocated happily and he tagged along a bit behind her, almost skipping. 

Further along, after she’d vaulted him up onto another bin to allow her passage past the chain link fence, they finally entered somewhere sheltered - clothes too big for any child draped along the floor and big cardboard boxes seemed to fade into the background when she zeroed in on a raincoat, bright and yellow like the hat Mono had given her, which lay discarded on the floor. Almost an exact replica of the one donned by the girl with the pigtail braids who had helped her back at the Nest. Six gravitated towards it and picked up the surprisingly dry article of clothing, slipping it over her head. Her soggy clothes beneath were still just as wet, but the added comfort of slipping the raincoat’s hood over her head made her feel slightly warmer. 

“So,” Mono said. “Do you still need the hat?”

She snapped her attention to where he stood, pulling her hood further over her head, and by extension the rain hat, protectively. “You can’t have it back.” 

“I- you- I don’t want it back!” he fumbled on his words, holding his hands up in surrender. “You can keep it, it’s yours now.”

She hummed in affirmation, releasing her white knuckle grip on her hood and letting it’s strained shape return to it’s normal triangular form. The silence left between them settled into something comfortable and easy, a far cry from the tense air they’d had originally. In those safe and reassuring moments, she could pretend to herself that they’d be alright. 

And when the previously closed door swung open, allowing Mono entrance into the next room, Six was expected to follow. And follow she did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> canon divergence comes in at chapter four btw oooooooooooooooooh i'm excited to write it


	3. Bottom Feeders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mono finds something special. It's great until it isn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooooooooo boy, biggest chapter yet and still not very big. anyway, do i add an angst tag now

“You’re hiding something,” Six crossed her arms, watching Mono, who was crawling oddly through the ceiling with one of his arms crossed protectively, hiding something in his coat.

“Nothin’ interesting,” he mumbled, shifting whatever he was holding to secure it further. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m not worried,” she edged closer. “I just want to know what you’re hiding.”

“You’re so nosy,” Mono griped, but his words didn’t hold any real bite; if anything they were playful.

She gave him a toothy grin, picking up her pace to get even closer into his space, invading what little of a personal bubble a person like Mono had. He let out a noise of complaint, bunching up the section of his coat where he hid his treasure and wrapped his arms around himself in a tight hug, coming to a halt. Whatever he’d picked up on his short-lived journey, it was something important. It would take an not idiot to see that. And while Six wasn’t a humble person, she could pride herself on the fact that she wasn’t stupid.

“Just let me see!” she cackled, prodding the side of him he held so defensively. It was solid but slightly greasy from the way the fabric of Mono’s coat slid against it. 

“Fine!” he whined, shying away from her greedy hands. Once she’d settled down, he dug his hand into his coat, his body language brightening as he grabbed a hold of the object he’d guarded so closely. He beckoned her forward with a simple gesture and he immediately crowded his space, watching with anticipation. Maybe he’d found a cool heirloom, or money, or maybe another hat - a good hat, not like any of the weird, creepy ones he seemed to have a penchant at picking up. But she was met with something that had her mentally scratching her chin instead. 

“Soap?” she said, a puzzled look crossing her face. 

“Yeah!” he held the bar of soap, rather large in comparison to them both but small enough he could hold it without much issue. “I found it in a shower room, there were boxes of them just lying there!” 

She peered intently at the block of soap that had captured Mono’s sudden devotion. It wasn’t anything special, just a regular bar of soap, green in colour and smooth edges with a word she couldn’t understand engraved into its face. “I couldn’t take a whole box, obviously,” Mono continued. “But I had to take one.”

“Mhm,” she nodded, eyeing it suspiciously. She knew Mono and his tendency to gravitate near anything clean whenever the opportunity sprung itself out, but this was different. Now it was physical and right there in front of them. She found herself feeling oddly jealous. 

The sound of the Doctor’s lumbering self had long faded into the background, if anything, the buzzing of the fluorescent lights were noisier than the distant thuds and thumps. Soon enough, they found the end of the vent lead into a cavernous room. The roof was tall and empty, save for the coils of wire holding up the ceiling panels, some missing, presumably for the Doctor and his method of travel. 

Mono wasted no time picking his way around the holes in the ceiling till he reached the edge. The medical tray, covered in a thick white blanket which was draped over something that was just a bit too large to be fully covered served as the perfect fall-breaker. Mono carefully jumped down, landing on the sheet. His graceful landing was momentary though, as it didn’t take long for him to slide off and almost land on his face. Six followed quickly after. 

The door to their right was held shut with an all too familiar padlock, and Mono couldn’t help but verbalise his frustration in a quiet huff. 

“Look around for a key,” he sighed, more to himself than Six, but she nodded anyway. 

The room was dark, a crack running through the glass fluorescent light. There was a muted click and then the room was illuminated with a beam of light. Mono aimed the flashlight in every possible direction, but there was no key to be found. 

On the other side of the room, Six pulled at the rung of a tray sat snugly inside an open locker, frowning when it gave some restraint. Eventually, the tray slid all the way out, revealing an open coffin-like box, dust settling in the air and a small bug flitted out. 

“Yuck.”

She hadn’t even heard Mono come up behind her.

“What do you think’s in there?” he questioned.

“Get in,” she said abruptly.

“What?!” Even with the bag covering his face and casting a shadow over his eyes, she could tell he was taken aback. 

“I’ll push you to the other side,” she reasoned. “The key is probably there.”

“If you say so,” he relented.

Uncertainly, he climbed into the old box, giving a noise of disgust as she pushed it to the other side. Six felt something akin to a stone of dread settle in her stomach when she heard the sound of his bare feet pitter-patter quietly in the room next to them. She knew he could handle himself - he’d proved that time and time again - but she couldn’t help but worry. It was an odd feeling. (‘A burden,’ a small, dark part of her mind snapped. She was never very good at emotions.)

A knock broke her out of her stupor and she quickly went to pull the box back back with a grunt. On the other side, Mono had attached a rusty key to the loop on his coat and wasted no time clambering out of the previously untouched box. He didn’t give it second glance, striding determinedly towards the locked door and slipping the key into place, giving a firm twist to which the padlock fell limply to the floor. 

When the door itself didn’t immediately swing open, Six initially feared that it may be locked on both sides, but when they both put their combined strength into pushing it, her worries were alleviated when it swung open. 

It wasn’t long till they found where the Doctor had scuttled off to. An unpleasant sawing noise that bounced harshly off the walls. She followed closely behind Mono, and when he sped ahead she wasn’t far behind. When the sawing noise stopped, she took a moment to examine her surroundings. 

The Doctor had bumbled over to the appliance above them, the sound of running water coming from the sink above them was clanky, as if the unit it was coming from was clogged. Apart from the immediate threat looming just above them, the room was rather bare. The same lockers from before littered the room, artificial body parts stick out of the haphazardly, some attached, some not. But what eventually caught her eye was the white glow from the uppermost right locker. A fuse. They could use that to open the door.

“Look,” she whispered, cupping her hands over her mouth. 

But Mono’s attention was direction to another room, a slow, steady beep emanating from behind the door. He turned to face her, looking over to where her finger was pointed. He gave her a nod of acknowledgement. The only problem now was the Doctor. He was flicking left and right, all over the room with inhuman speed for someone of his size, cutting body parts off the patients and re-attaching them to others until he decided it wasn’t quite right and repeating the process. “But how do we get him away,” she muttered to herself. 

“If we can get over to that room you could lift me in and I could make a distraction,” Mono was already edging over to the room, motioning to the window. She gave it a moment. It was probably the best they were going to get, since waiting out the Doctor was something that’d take far too long and running for it was plain stupid. 

“Ok,” she gave him a thumbs up, following him over to the room and helping him up. 

Once she heard him land in the other room, she curled herself up as small as she could and silently prayed that the Doctor wouldn’t come over to inspect where she was hiding. The ambient noise was interrupted when the steady beeps from inside the other room turned quick and frenzied. Breaths that she hadn’t even recognised as breaths before turned loud and wheezy. 

The Doctor was quick, dropping the patient he was tending to and bustling into the room, his own asthmatic breathing giving way to noises of alarm. There was the sound of a switch being pulled, but the loud beep didn’t subside. Then, Mono ran out, dashing straight past her and to the fuse, pulling out the tray a patient laid on and climbing up into the locker, retrieving the fuse. 

“Catch,” he whispered loudly, tossing the fuse down to her. 

She caught it without issue, making her way back to the outlet where she stuck the fuse in without hesitation. The resounding noise the gate made was a lot louder than the patient flatlining across the room. It was shrill and deafening in the face of relative silence, but more importantly, it alerted the Doctor, who let out a shriek. 

She wasted no time slipping through the small gap given by the gate and ran. Jumping over and sliding under obstacles came naturally to her at this point, but something different was how far back Mono sounded. Amongst the clashes and bangs of the Doctor’s clumsy chase, Mono wasn’t as close behind as he normally was.

She was well aware that out of the two of them she was the more capable sprinter, but not by a lot. Was he tired? Why didn’t he tell her? Was he hurt?! Her mind was racing with possibilities, and in a spare moment, she turned to look at him. And she felt a grimace cross her face. 

It was the soap. That stupid trinket he’d picked up and refused to put down. The added weight was slowing him down considerably and yet he persisted, pushing forwards, just out of harm's way but not by much. 

“It’s not worth it Mono, just drop it!” Six yelled, but despite her plea, he only held on tighter. Her heart skipped a beat when the Doctor’s hand came within a hair of Mono’s coat, just missing him when he ducked out of his reach. The Doctor stumbled forward, obviously expecting to catch Mono, he let out an angry screech. Mono clutched the bar of soap in both of his hands, his slow sprint even slower as he went to catch his footing. To Six’s short lived relief, he regained his posture, running fast enough to evade the Doctor, who also fell back into the rhythm of the chase.

She jumped onto the metal of one of the industrial shelves blocking her path, sending vials of pills and ambiguous fluids flying, Mono not far behind, bar of soap still held tightly in his grasp. She gritted her teeth in annoyance. She was well aware that when he was dead set on something, he became stubborn to a fault and persistent on fulfilling his goal. She’d become all too familiar with his persistence when he explained his objective: to reach the Signal Tower and do whatever with the Transmission. At least that was an honourable goal - but a bar of soap? It was stupid!

She fell into a well timed slide and relished in the dark cover of the beds. That feeling was quickly squashed when she heard a loud _crash_ from behind her. The Doctor’s entire weight was being pressed down on the beds. He was _crushing_ the beds, along with the patients and lone parts laid limply on them. The fear in Mono’s jolty movements was obvious as he struggled to barely avoid the Doctor’s advances, shifting the soap under one arm and using the other to propel himself further to move as fast as he possibly could.

When he was out from the cover of the beds, his footfalls stuttered, the jerk of him suddenly standing up sending the soap skidding across the dirty hospital floor. Quickly noticing the absence of the bar, he slid picked himself back up sped towards it in an urgent hurry. She could see the way his tense posture eased when he picked it back up and slid it back under one arm. Once he was sure it was safely situated, he turned his attention back to the mortal danger at hand. 

Six let out a frustrated yell, dragging the furnace door open and let her jaw drop in horror as Mono dived in, followed by the Doctor, who dragged himself along the floor unnervingly quick (similar to a slug) and into the furnace. Noticing this, Mono jumped into the lower cavity of the furnace, spluttering as dust and ashes sprayed everywhere upon his impact.

He wasted no time moving out of the Doctor’s reach, the large man’s chubby hand diving into the ash, patting around for any sign of Mono.

Mono waded through the powdery remains and up to the ventilation shaft, his breath hitching when he reached the three ominous bars blocking his way. But when he didn’t move to pull them, only clutching his trophy tighter, Six let out a growl of frustration. “Come on, help me!” she snapped. He cast his head down to look at the soap his blunt fingernails were dug into, and then back at her. To her dismay, he only held on tighter. “But I can’t lose this!” he spluttered.

“You’re kidding me,” she gave an empty, unamused laugh, pulling at the top bar of the vent. “Just put it in your pocket and get out!”

“My pocket’s not big enough,” he said, too calm for someone with impending doom on their hands. The Doctor was still scanning his hand along the further part of the furnace though, so their idle small talk didn’t amount to much. 

“Then put it down!” Her patience was wearing thin. "It's not the only one in the world."

“I can’t,” Mono began to back up until the annoyed groan of the Doctor reminded him why he was there in the first place. 

“No, you just don’t want to,” she accused seethingly, the metal of the vent bars digging into her already coarse hands, sure to leave an angry red mark. 

When the Doctor realised his attempts at grabbing Mono were undoubtedly futile, he decided to switch up his tactic, suddenly pressing all of his weight onto the metal bed. When at first it didn’t give him the results he desired, he let out an animalistic groan, lifting his large body up as much as he could and then slamming it back down. The platform under him shifted, squeaking quietly. Six let out a quiet breath of relief, but the Doctor wasn’t finished yet, repeatedly slamming himself into the staging over and over until he heard a crack. Then a twang. Something had broken. Suddenly, the stiff platform was moving loosely with the Doctor’s movements. 

The Doctor let out a triumphant wheeze, proceeding to put as much pressure on the metal rungs of the furnace that his fat, bloated body could, and to Six’s immediate horror, _it was working._ The metal bed was bending with a terrible creak that pushed her adrenaline ridden body to pull harder at the metal bars covering the vent. The screws of one flew out, sliding across the floor and away to a discreet corner of the room, but in her feverish hurry she couldn’t care less, working at the second bar. Mono, on the other hand, was holding the bar of soap so tight she could see the bone of his knuckles. “He’s going to kill you, Mono!” she screamed. “Just drop it, for _fucks sake!_ ”

Mono went rigid, angling the eye holes of his bag at a point to where he could look at the souvenir he’d guarded so closely, his hands shaking. In the face of death, he cast it to the side, ignoring his prized possession as submerged and disappeared into the ash and dust, pulling as hard as he could at the bar blocking his exit. By that time, Six managed to get the second off, and was hurriedly working at the last one. The Doctor’s elated chortles had turned to loud and frustrated groans as he finally retracted his wandering hand to put his entire weight on the crematory furnace’s bed, pushing himself as upright as he could be with both of his hands before slamming them down. 

The back half of the bed caved in, sending ashes flying in all directions. 

The final bar came away from where it was weakly nailed in, sending Mono and Six stumbling back. 

Mono dived out of the tight space and into the sharp glow of the crematorium’s flickering light, his bag half off as he gasped in air like a beached fish. Six, on the other hand, was already back on her feet and pushed the door to a point where she could slam every inch of her small body into the door of the furnace. With the force of her impact, the lock fell down into place right as the Doctor backed up into it, the beast of a man letting out a cry of surprise, banging his fat, blubbery hands against the door. It shifted slightly and Six wasted no time speeding to the lever and pulling it down. She finally fell to the floor with an exhausted pant. 

For a moment, it was quiet. And then he started screaming. 

No adult she’d encountered could form a coherent sentence, and if they made comprehensible speech, Six didn’t understand it; it was always grunts and screeches and groans. She was a smart enough girl to make sense of what those sounds implied, but what they really meant? She was clueless. The Doctor was like the rest of them, all infuriated screams and groans of frustration, but right now, he was screaming. A muffled wail, pauses to take brief inhales and then another cry, fists banging against the furnace’s door in a non-verbal plea for forgiveness. It was nowhere near intelligent speech, but that didn’t matter, because Six knew what this meant. He was in pain. To put it even more bluntly - he was dying. 

The bone-chilling howl of someone who knows they’re done for and have nothing left to lose, so they decided to let it all out in one final gut-wrenching death rattle. Something that would haunt the average person throughout their life and to their grave. But Six? She revelled in it. With heavy, tired footsteps, she moved to sit in front of the fire. It’d be a while till the flames burnt away all of the Doctor’s blubber and fat, and she cringed at the harsh smell of rubber and what she could only assume was flesh. But amongst that, there was something else. A sweet but sharp smell, like apples with a touch of something artificial. And then it clicked. 

The soap. 

The treasure Mono had kept so close and guarded as if his life depended on it, that he’d reluctantly presented to her, as if he was sharing something precious and not just a block of oils, fats and butters. The soap he’d set aside in the furnace on her command to help free him. She didn’t regret it - if he didn’t leave it he’d surely be dead, but the idea of Mono blaming her for his loss and hating her? The heat of the fire couldn’t warm up the shoot of ice cold dread that shot through her. 

“Six?” 

She turned around with a sharp jerk. Mono was stood on by the elevator, and not for the first time did Six find herself cursing the fact she couldn’t read Mono’s face through that stupid paper bag. Couldn’t tell how he felt at that moment. If he was angry with her, disappointed or unscathed by the ordeal.

“Yeah,” she replied hoarsely.

“Can I get a boost?” he tilted his head.

“Sure,” she hesitantly moved over to him, crouching down underneath the lever and offering out her hands to give him a platform. Once he found his footing, she propelled him upwards and just like usual, he grabbed hold of the lever and dropped down. Her hands stayed rigid and uncertain at her sides until she felt a warm finger prod her side. 

She gave her uncertain attention to Mono, who offered out a dusty hand to her. She grasped hold of it in relief, relishing the soft warmth it gave off. He didn’t hate her, she let out a breath she didn’t realise she’d been holding in. “You’re too nice,” she croaked. 

And it was then when it all made sense. The ever present feeling of dread compiled with the way she gravitated towards him like a moth to a flame. A tiny flickering flame that could be snuffed out in an instant. No, not could be, _would be._ Kind people were rare in this world for good reason, because kind people couldn’t survive. And Mono, in all his unconditional kindness and loyalty, was stupidly nice. 

“Huh?” he questioned idly as the elevator reached their floor. 

She pondered on that thought for a moment before shaking her head, only holding his hand tighter. “Nothing.”


End file.
